


Apple Blossom

by Its_Raineing_Words



Series: Flower Language [2]
Category: Enola Holmes (2020)
Genre: Arguing, Developing Relationship, Emotional, Emotional Constipation, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Flowers, Fluff and Angst, Healthy Relationships, Language of Flowers, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Misunderstandings, Period Typical Attitudes, Victorian Attitudes, Working Out My Feelings Through Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:34:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29230863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Its_Raineing_Words/pseuds/Its_Raineing_Words
Summary: An argument leads Enola to the Thames and she has to decide just what her priorities are.
Relationships: Enola Holmes/Viscount "Tewky" Tewksbury
Series: Flower Language [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945444
Kudos: 40





	Apple Blossom

The high society of London was in an uproar. One of, if not the most eligible bachelors in the entirety of the country, William Tewksbury, Marquis of Basilweather had been seen courting some middle class girl whose only claim to any sort of prominence was her relation to Sherlock Holmes. It was a travesty, a scandal and must be stopped. If nothing else it ruined the plans of far too many wealthy families hoping to marry off their daughters to him. For him to throw away his chance of solidifying a relationship with one of the well to do families in the country was seen as idiotic bordering onto the insane. The two had been seen engaging in such scandalous behaviour as walking together unchaperoned and even riding bicycles together. A young woman riding a bicycle was enough to shock anyone, surely! But it seemed that the young marquis could not be shaken from his affections. 

As for the two of them, they paid no attention to the opinions of anyone other than themselves. Though Enola did sometimes wonder if Tewksbury had made the right decision in beginning to court her. Surely it was more trouble than it was worth, but it wasn’t her decision to make and she was too selfish, or just too practical to make it for him. 

She had received a letter from Mycroft a few days into their courtship, ostensibly as congratulations but really as a thinly veiled threat; ‘if you don’t act like a lady I will make your life not worth living’ was the gist of it. How she wished that William was not the marquis of Basilweather but some son of a business owner, a working class boy or even some pauper from a workhouse-any of those would produce infinitely less stress on her part. But then he wouldn’t be himself so she supposed that she would just have to put up with it. 

Enola much preferred for him to come to see her as the grandeur of his estate made her feel ill at ease, like a pigeon among peacocks. She didn’t have much time to get lost in her thoughts as the tall marquis in question arrived at 221B.  
“Miss Holmes, you have a visitor!” Mrs Hudson called up to her from the door, Enola had not been able to convince her to call her by her first name no matter how much she insisted.  
Enola rushed out, wishing that she had made more of an effort with her hair, “William,” it still felt weird to call him by his first name but she figured that she would have to start, “what caused you to grace me with your visit?”  
“I missed you, nothing more,” he grinned down at her and took her hand and kissed it by way of greeting.  
“Oh, well you caught me looking through the papers for a new case. Sherlock gets all of the good ones but I’m still making a reputation for myself so it’s to be expected.”  
“Once people know about what you can do they will flock to you for help.”  
Enola frowned, “Thank you for your belief, I don’t enjoy using Sherlock’s money for things even if it is his responsibility to care for me. I wish I could have stayed in my old rooms and taken care of myself.”  
“You could have come to stay with us,” he pointed out, smirking at her from his superior height.  
“That’s true but also you know what I’m like. Also, could you imagine the gossip if people knew that you were courting some girl that you had in your house?”  
William laughed, “You make it sound like I would be keeping you prisoner!”  
“Well, they wouldn’t know that, would they?” Enola pointed out, sniggering, “Also, I would not want to live in your debt forever thank you very much.”  
“I can’t say I understand it completely but I respect your decision. We will be together soon enough.”  
“Soon enough?” Enola echoed, feeling rather odd.  
He looked at her a little confused, “When we’re married, of course. I would have proposed by now but mother insisted that we have a proper courtship, not that what we went through together is enough to get to know someone...”

Enola didn’t catch the rest of what he was saying as her ears were buzzing. She had no idea why what he had said made her feel so awful, like she was trapped. She loved him and did want to marry him someday, the someday part was probably the issue. She wasn’t even 18 and neither was he! Enola knew that it was perfectly acceptable for the aristocracy to marry young, encouraged even, but it wasn’t how she had been raised and certainly wasn’t how she had pictured her life. She had imagined, if she ever wed at all, to do it in her mid twenties as her mother had but that clearly wasn’t what William had in mind. 

“Enola? Are you listening?” Tewksbury’s voice pulled her from her troubling thoughts.  
“Yes! I….alright, no. I find myself deeply troubled by what you have said.”  
He frowned, “Come sit with me, we must talk about this. What exactly did I say to trouble you so, you look grey as if you might faint! Do you need some water? I can call Mrs Hudson.”  
She waved a hand, “No, no! I am fine,” she said through her teeth as they sat in chairs facing each other, in fact they were the chairs that Dr Watson and her brother used, “I merely was not aware of your feelings on the subject of marriage.”  
“Oh,” he said, and that seemed to say it all.  
“I did not expect to get married any time soon. I want to live my life and not be tied down by the expectations of marriage or high society life. I know that is unfair to you and I need to include you in my decision making process if we are to have any sort of serious relationship but I find myself valuing my career above the prospect of getting married. Is that...wrong?”  
He looked shocked and hurt which made her wish she hadn’t said anything in the first place. 

The pause between them was long, the sounds of carriages and hansom cabs and the people rushing from place to place. Enola regretting bringing it up, they had been having a lovely time together and she had ruined it like she seemed to ruin everything else in her life.  
“It isn’t wrong but I must admit that I had no idea that you felt that way. What brought all of this on?”  
“Well,” she began, before she realised that she was fighting back tears and she had to take a second lest she completely lose her composure, “it was just how you were talking about us getting married. Like everything was planned and set out before us and nothing could change it...and...and...it feels like I’m being trapped!”  
William looked at her as she wiped the tears from her face with her sleeve, his face was carefully blank like a marble statue, “Do you ever want to get married?”  
The artificially calm way that he spoke told her all she needed to know about his emotional state, “Yes! Well, honestly I don’t know. It’s what I’m meant to do but you know how I feel about what I’m meant to do,” her attempt at humour failed to produce a reaction from him, “We’re just so young.”  
“I don’t agree, my parents were married at 18.”  
“We are not your parents.”  
“You misunderstand me,” he said, teeth slightly clenched, “I just mean that if we truly both mean to spend our lives together then what is the difference between marrying sooner or later?”  
“But that is the whole point! I don’t know if I want to marry!” She exclaimed.  
His face crumpled, the statue breaking, “No, you don’t know if you want to marry me.”  
“What? That is not what I said-” she began but he cut her off.  
“I don’t need to hear what you said, I know damn well what you mean. No amount of money or land could make me good enough for the great Enola Holmes. You’re saving yourself for someone better.”

Enola stared at him in utter shock, they had never even come close to an argument before and having his anger directed at her was an awful sensation.  
“What about me saying that I do not know if I ever want to get married means that you are not good enough for me? Surely it is I who am not enough for you, certainly I am not good enough for your mother. I just don’t understand why you are in such a rush!” Her voice was shrill in her ears and it made her want to vomit, she sounded like her own mother.  
He scoffed, “Is it so difficult for you to understand? Perhaps you are too much of an automaton. I want to be with you and marriage is how that happens, if you don’t want to marry me then this whole courtship is a farce!”  
“Why are you acting like this? You knew who I was when we began our courtship and now you are acting surprised when I am myself? Well, if you expect me to change for you, regardless of my feelings, you are sorely mistaken. I will bend to no one,” she glared at him.  
“Maybe I’m just too conventional for you,” he said bitterly, “One day you will grow up, Enola, and realise that you have made a great mistake in passing me over. Whatever stable boy ends up having you had better think himself worthy.”  
Enola was so confused that the anger left her in a great rush, “What on earth do you mean?”  
William fixed her with a look that made him unrecognisable to her, “You are always searching for adventure and I realise now that you will not find it with me. You will find someone more suited to your….temperament and the brute will not know what he has.”

The fact that he had clearly thought about all of this a great deal made her feel sick. How much resentment had he been keeping from her? She clearly saw her as something to be tamed and that was the last thing that she was. If he didn’t know this about her by now then he didn’t know her at all. And if he didn’t know her then he clearly couldn’t love her.  
“You just want some high society lady who will bow to your every whim. That will never be me,” she hissed viscously, not wanting Mrs Hudson to overhear their argument, “You say that I will end up with someone else but it is looking like it is you who will choose someone completely different to myself.”  
“I-” he began to speak but she found that she couldn’t stand to be in his presence any longer.  
“Get out.”  
“But-”  
“Now.”  
He left and she was alone with her thoughts. They swarmed and filled her head and soon the room became too claustrophobic to be endured and she just had to leave. Besides, she didn’t know when Sherlock would be back and the last thing she wanted was for him to see her in such a state. If the news got back to Mycroft that there were problems between her and William she would never hear the end of it and she was trying her best to avoid all contact with her eldest brother. 

Enough time had passed for her to be sure that Tewsbury wasn’t still outside and so she quickly got up and left 221B before Mrs Hudson could say anything to her. She found herself walking aimlessly with no real idea of where she was going except that it was towards the Thames. She remembered reading last night about the great stink that had imminated from that river before proper sewage was introduced to the city and she found herself glad that was no longer the state of affairs. 

As the Thames, the great artery of London and the south of England, drew near she wondered what the next step for her was to be. Now that she had calmed down somewhat she didn’t want to call the courtship off, but then again that decision might not fall to her. And besides, if he was convinced that she was going to leave him for some ‘more adventurous’ person, then was what they had salvageable? Enola had to figure out what she thought relatively soon as the longer she was gone the more likely it was that she would be missed. If she had a pressing case then things would be different but she knew that she would be easily traced and that Sherlock would already know that something was wrong from Mrs Hudson. She just didn’t want the news to get back to Mycroft. 

The streets running adjacent to the river were bustling with people, all seemingly on their way to somewhere very important. Shouts from the workmen on their boats chugging along the river called up into the sky like the cries of seagulls. Enola was distracted for a moment by the magnitude of it all. London was still fairly new to her, for all that Sherlock has endeavoured to pass down his encyclopedic knowledge of the city onto her. Eventually, she would get used to the epic scale of the place but for now took her breath away any time that she let it.

Finding a bench, she had sat down and was wishing that she had brought a book with her when someone caught her attention.  
“Excuse me, miss.”  
Enola looked up and saw a boy roughly her age, he was dirty and looked haggard, most likely he was working on one of the boats and was on his break. She could tell that he had just eaten some bread and cheese from the crumbs on his clothes.  
“Yes?”  
“I couldn’t help but wonder what you’re doing here, it isn’t very safe.”  
Enola smirked, “I think I will be alright, don’t you worry.”  
The boy furrowed his brows slightly, “As long as you’re sure...I’ve seen well to do ladies come to the wrong side of town before and it didn’t turn out well.”  
“Well, you can keep me company for a bit, if you want. I need to take my mind off of something.”  
“Oh, well that’s fine. I have some time,” he flushed and looked genuinely surprised to have her speak to him in such a friendly way. Clearly the dress she was wearing was too fancy if people were reacting like this to her.  
“Are you having your lunch?” She asked, not particularly interested and already knowing the answer but also knowing that the pleasantries had to be gotten out of the way first.  
“Just finished it. I should be getting back but if I’m honest I won’t be missed if I come back a bit late, my boss is always drunk by this time.”

The two of them sat back together, the boy having taken a seat next to her. After a while of silence, she realised her rudeness.  
“I completely forgot to introduce myself! I’m Enola Holmes.”  
He looked taken aback, “Holmes...like, Sherlock Holmes?”  
She looked down, “Yes, he’s my brother.”  
“London really is a place where you can meet anyone,” he gasped.  
“I have noticed that myself…” she muttered before brightening, “What is your name?”  
“Billy,” he replied, “Billy Jenkins.”  
“Very nice to meet you, Billy. What brought you over to speak to me? Londoners aren’t known for their friendliness.”  
“Well…” he rubbed the back of his neck with a dirty hand, “I am avoiding someone.”  
“Oh?”  
“A couple of the other boys who work as general dog’s bodies on the boats round here have taken a dislike to me and I would prefer not to be beaten,” he said, looking slightly abashed.  
“I am gratified to think that my presence would stop such an event from taking place,” Enola replied, amused.  
“I live in hope.”  
She laughed, momentarily forgetting her situation, “Well, I’ll make sure to put up a good fight for your honour then, Billy.”

The two of them fell into a companionable silence then. Enola began to wish that he had brought some food or money with her but she hadn’t. She would have to wait until she got back to the flat to eat. When was she planning on returning? She was a fair ways away but it wasn’t as if there was anything for her back there. Perhaps scanning the papers for a potential case, or going through Sherlock’s notes to learn more about the art of deduction. While Sherlock never consented to formally tutor her, he did occasionally give her a titbit of advice and his notes were open for her to peruse if and when she wanted to. 

Besides, Elona knew that anything she did today would just be a distraction from her own mind. William must surely be at his home, probably pacing around his garden if he knew him, and she did. She wondered again how they would get over this, if they were to get over it. With the distance that time brought, Enola found that she couldn’t help but think that the whole thing must be some sort of misunderstanding, born of insecurity on both of their parts. The most she could do at this point would be to apologise and to try to reassure him, nothing more could be done. 

Enola sighed and Billy looked over to her, a questioning look on her face.  
“Something the matter, miss?”  
“I’m just remembering how today has gone, I certainly hadn’t thought that it would go so badly when I had woken this morning,” she explained, feeling older than her years. Billy didn’t reply, just looked at her with a politely curious expression, “I am courting a young man and this morning we had a had...a disagreement. It has left me not knowing what to say to him, whether I should apologise or not and in general what I should do.”  
“Well, I don’t know what you should do. But surely being honest about how you feel is the best way to start.”  
“I’m not too sure how I feel, in honesty. Everything happened so fast! At first we were just talking as usual and then we were arguing and he left and I left and came here.”  
He hummed thoughtfully, “Like I say, being honest can’t hurt surely. Maybe he wasn’t too sure about what happened either and he also wants to fix it.”

Enola frowned, she could imagine him wracked with guilt but equally if their compatibility was so flawed then how could it be fixed? She did want to marry him at some point, but if he was so set on the marriage happening soon and if he felt like she was going to abandon him for someone else if she did not consent to his wishes then what could she do to reassure him without compromising herself?

Eventually it became apparent that she would simply have to go home and wait for the morning before calling on William and trying to sort out. They both needed time to themselves. She bid farewell to Billy who, looking around clearly searching for his would be assailants and finding none, was happy enough to trot back to one of the many boats floating along the river’s edge and hop in. 

Enola wasn’t surprised to find her brother waiting for her by a street corner and she couldn’t even summon the energy to be annoyed.  
“Sherlock.”  
“Enola,” he replied, walking alongside her without quam even as she tried her best to ignore him, “I hear that there was a disturbance between yourself and the young viscount today.”  
“Mrs Hudson?” Enola hopped over a shoeshiner and ducked between a newly married couple to get some distance between her and her brother. They would still end up at the same place but she wanted to have even a small victory over Sherlock.  
He caught up to her easily, his long legs elongating his gait, “It could be no other.”  
She sighed and slowed down, letting him lead the way as they made their way back to the flats.  
“How did you know where I would be?”  
“I knew that you were reading a book on the history of London and from looking at the bookmark I could see that you had just read about a piece of history pertaining to the river,” Sherlock slipped into the cadence that he only ever took on when he was explaining his deductions. Enola found herself torn between feeling patronised and wishing she had something to take notes with, “A young lady in distress would not be thinking clearly. And as you don’t have any places that you frequent enough to be a place of refuge then I took it that your mind would go to the information that had been most recently fed into it. You hadn’t read that morning’s paper and so the volume I saw you reading the night before was the best place to continue my investigations. I walked from the flat to the river but as you had not taken the most efficient route it took me longer than it normally would to find you.”  
“Defeated by my irrationality then, Sherlock?” Enola quipped, “That’s almost enough to make me feel better about having my psyche and habits deduced like I am a case of yours.”  
“If you aren’t comfortable with deduction then you-”  
Enola held up a silencing hand even as they crossed a busy road, “That is not what I meant. I merely wish that you would treat me as a sister sometimes, that is all.”

Sherlock didn’t reply and they made their way back to 221B in silence. Enola could tell that he wanted to get a hansom cab and that knowledge made her all the more eager to walk, even if it was tiresome. The afternoon was well underway by the time they drew close to Baker Street and walking back felt very different to her hurried exit that morning. She saw a figure standing outside their door from the end of the road, she grimaced, she didn’t want more of the constant fawning that her brother received. It threw her own meager dealings as a private detective into even sharper relief.  
“It seems that your paramore has decided to return,” Sherlock commented.  
Enola’s snarky retort died in her mouth. William? It did look like him, but why would he come back? Suddenly the grim dread of realisation filled her. He had come to call off the courtship.  
“Rather gallant of him to do it in person rather than by letter…”  
“Cheer up, you cannot decide upon a theory without all of the facts. Surely I have taught you that much.”  
“You do love to make everything about you, don’t you, Sherlock?” She said bitterly, heart pounding. Why did he have to make fun of her at a time like this? Did he not know that Mycroft would have his head too once news of the ended courtship got out? 

Suddenly William turned to look in their direction and she could see even from a distance how his body tensed and straightened, as if ready for conflict. Enola would have much rather physically have fought him than do this. He jogged towards them and arrived panting slightly, still not any better suited to adventure than when they first met.  
“Mr Holmes,” he greeted, “Enola.”  
He looked at her then and everything stopped for a moment. Even the jarring presence of her brother didn’t bother her.  
“Sir,” Sherlock replied, “how do you do?”  
“How do you do?”  
“I will leave the two of you alone. I have a pressing case that demands my attention.”

The silence between them drew long as the bustle of the street took place around them as if they weren’t there.  
“The veins of London stop for no one…” she muttered.  
“Pardon?” William asked, looking puzzled.  
“Oh, just my mind running away with me for a moment. Was there…” she didn’t want to say it, she really did not want to say it, “something that you wished to discuss with me?”  
He blushed and looked abashed, “Not discuss per se, I have something to give you.”  
Enola was confused then, up until then she truly had expected the gentle but sharp cut of rejection but this wasn’t part of the scenario that had been playing through her head repeatedly up until then.  
“Here,” William took her hand in his own and pressed something delicate into it, he had been keeping it held in his hand and she chided herself for not having noticed that small deception on his part.  
“Oh,” she took a step back and opened up her hand. Inside was a flower, small and delicate with petals that faded from white to a dusky pink. It took her a second to identify it, “apple blossom.”  
“Indeed. Do you...gasp my meaning?”  
“I do, Tewksbury,” after the last time Enola had taken it upon herself to memorise most flowers and their meanings, and it seemed that it had become useful again, “I wish I had one to give to you.” 

Then the careful distance between them shattered and Enola was once again glad for the unfailing lack of curiosity that Londoners possessed.  
“I’m so sorry that I ever made you feel like the way that you are isn’t good enough for me, dear Enola. I was just scared of losing you but I fear that I have only pushed you away. Please forgive me for my callous words,” his words tumbled out almost tripping over each other and she smiled, the relief was total.  
“I forgive you. Please forgive me too, we both said some awful things this morning.”  
She would have kissed him if they weren’t in public so instead she reached for his hand and gripped it tightly for a moment before letting it go. That seemed to cheer him up slightly and he smiled down at her, his dark eyes mesmerising in their emotion.  
“I never want you to be anything other than you are, Enola. It just took me nearly losing you to realise that I have let the expectations that are being placed on me get the better of me,” he said bashfully.  
She shrugged, “I just wish we hadn’t let things come to a head like that. We need to talk things through before they get that bad in the future.”  
“You’re right, I can only apologise. I have been wracked with guilt since we parted so badly this morning.”  
Enola stuck her hand out towards him, “No more arguments like this morning, we tell each other if anything is wrong right away. Shake on it?”  
He took her hand, “Deal,” he paused, her hand still in his, “One more thing. I do want to marry you but...I don’t want you to be pressured into anything. If you want to wait then we will wait. My family can go hang.”  
She laughed, “So they were pressuring you? Is that why you were so upset?”  
He joined her in laughter for a moment, “Yes. But I do actually want to marry too.”  
“And I want to marry you too.”  
“Really?” He looked honestly gobsmacked which made her feel slightly guilty.  
“Well I wouldn’t have consented to court you if that wasn’t the goal eventually but...not for a good while yet. After today, I think we have lots more to learn about each other before we’re ready for that level of commitment.”  
William looked sad for a moment before nodding, “I think you’re right. I’m just glad that I can continue to get to know you, Enola.”  
“Come on, let’s go inside. I’m sure Mrs Hudson has some tea and cake waiting for us!”

**Author's Note:**

> Apple Blossom = I prefer you above all 
> 
> It took me a lot longer to post this update than I thought but I hope it's worth it! Please let me know if you enjoyed, I love reading your comments :)


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